 |
 |
 |
|
Bodmin - What a Discovery!
Bodmin owes its name to its connections with Cornwall's patron saint - St Petroc. Who St Petroc was is not really known. Some say he was Cornish, others that he was a Welsh prince. Facts about him are few, but place names and tales are many. Whatever his origins, he became a monk and in about 530 CE Petroc and his monks settled in a leafy, secluded valley, ‘the abode of the monks near the church" or "Bodmine" or "Bodmin".
Bodmin was the centre for Cornwall's religious life up until 1540s. It had the Franciscan friary of St Nicholas and the Augustinian Priory of St Mary the Virgin and St Petroc. In the late 1990s, while refurbishing the Shire Hall, the graves of several friars were found, re-buried and are still ‘sleeping' under Mount Folly.
Bodmin is also the only Cornish town to be mentioned in William the Conqueror's the Domesday Book of 1086 and its earliest Charter was granted in 1285 by King Edward I. Bodmin was a thriving centre for numerous crafts and many of the Guilds were based in Bodmin. The Guildhall is still in Fore Street, now a local bakery.Besides having the crown courts, jail and the barracks of the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, Bodmin has always been a town that's had a mind of its own!
It was here that in 1497 Perkin Warbeck, Pretender to the Tudor throne, proclaimed himself Richard IV before marching on London. It was from here, in the same year, that Bodmin lawyer Thomas Flamack and St Kevern's Michael Joseph led an ill-clad army against Henry VII and the taxes he had imposed to finance his Scottish war. Both were hanged, drawn and quartered and passed into Cornish legend. A granite memorial to them stands in Fore Street, near Lloyd's Bank.
In 1549 the Cornish were up in arms once more, when the Book of Common Prayer, was imposed on them. Off set an army from Bodmin to London, only to suffer another crushing defeat. The leaders died the grisly traitors deaths and the Mayor of Bodmin, Nicholas Boyer hanged, in front of his own townspeople on his own gallows.
Look up to the Beacon Nature Reserve - standing on the very top is the impressive 144 foot granite obelisk dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert for military successes in India. A medal was also struck bearing his image - the only other soldier who had a similar medal - the victor over Napoleon at Waterloo - the Duke of Wellington.
Walk down Fore Street and look up at the roofs of the buildings - Victorian Bodmin is there for all to be seen. Many of Bodmin's famous sons have gone on to make a mark in the world - John Arnold,clockmaker - who perfected the ship's chronometer which was taken by Captain Cook on his epic voyage of discovery. Sir John Coode, marine engineer, second only to Brunel in prestige, and builder of numerous harbours worldwide. Sir Wallace Budge - Egyptologist; Sir Arthur Quiller Couch - author and man of letters; ‘Sapper' - author of the Bulldog Drummond books and Private James Finn, Victoria Cross holder and a young hero of the Great War.
Bodmin's a town that resonants with history, turbulent times and human interest. It's a town that cherishes and wants to share its heritage with visitors.
